The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) recently implemented sanctions in response to findings that the Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad used industrial chlorine as a weapon against its own people.
OFAC’s conclusions were based on a report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations’ Joint Investigative Mechanism. In response to the report, OFAC is designating 18 senior Syrian regime officials connected to the country’s weapons of mass destruction program and also identified five Syrian military branches as part of the government of Syria for designation.
The report found that the Syrian government, through its air force, was responsible for three chlorine gas attacks in Talmenes in April 2014, and in Qmenas and Sarmin in March 2015. The sanctions are the first time the OFAC has designated any Syrian officials in connection to the use of weapons of mass destruction.
“The Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons against its own people is a heinous act that violates the longstanding global norm against the production and use of chemical weapons,” said Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin. “Today’s action is a critical part of the international community’s effort to hold the Syrian regime accountable for violating the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and UN Security Council Resolution 2118.”
Specific military branches included in OFAC’s designations include the Syrian Arab Air Force, the Syrian Arab Air Defense Forces, the Syrian Arab Army, the Syrian Arab Navy, and the Syrian Arab Republican Guard.
As a result of the sanctions, any property of the identified Syrian regime officials in the possession or control of U.S. individuals or within the United States must be blocked. Additionally, any transactions by U.S. individuals involving the Syrian officials are generally prohibited.